Common glassware in Dutch Still Life painting during the Golden Age – Jugs.

This is a continuation of the series about glassware in Dutch paintings.  It is time for Jugs – These were made of ceramic either white, white and blue or brown looking more earthenware. They had a metal (pewter) cap attached to the handle and can be opened by pressing a thumb-lever just like a German stein today. The jugs were used for both beer or white wine. Vermeer used a white one for “The Music Lesson”, “The Sleeping Maid”, “this beautiful white-blue one for “The Procuress” and “Girl interrupted at her music” amongst others.

Johannes Vermeer – The Procuress - @ GemäldegalerieAlteMeister of Dresden, Germany	@ the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto	My own

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Selecting and Arranging Objects to convey messages in modern Vanitas images. Prose statements in Vanitas.

Most people think that Vanitas images are “dark”, which; if you have been reading my blog you would know by now that this is not the case. Vanitas paintings were about the existing strict moral code in Calvinist Dutch Republic not about “Goth culture/subculture”.

Vanitas were very popular and many Dutch painters made a living from them. Antoine Steenwick, Peter Claesz, Harmen Steenwyck, David Bailly, Willem Calaesz Heda, Jan Davidsz De Heem and others.

After reading and researching a lot about the Dutch Golden Age, my own take is that Vanitas paintings were popular because the wealthy used them as pre-emptive “show off” pieces. That is, to tell the world about their awareness of the moral decay that can accompany wealth (specially unearned wealth). By hanging one of these pieces in their homes, the wealthy wanted to tell visitors “although I am rich, I follow our moral code (I have God teachings present in my life) and I am aware that wealth is temporary”.

Once you understand this, it is a lot easier to compose images that follow that line of thought. Here are good examples.

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Common glassware in Dutch Still Life painting during the Golden Age, the Flute and Venetian glass

These were tall flute glasses normally shown with wine or beer. Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Heda used them quite often as shown in his still life “Breakfast with crab” at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia (one of the few World’s top museums I haven’t visited) and ”Ham and Silverware”. The one I used in my “Still Life a la Kalf” is made in Sweden according to the traditions of the times. The one shown at right can be seen at the Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Willem Claesz Heda – Breakfast piece with a Lobster (1648)	@ Getty Museum	My own replica	See it here in a “Vermeer-Kalf” scene

Venetian glass – As its name indicate, these were made in Venice and easily identifiable by the ornate symmetrical “wings” at each side of the stem. The glass itself was quite thin and therefore fragile, no wonder they are really rare and as you can guess very expensive. The glass is shown tipped over in the first image from a Pieter Claesz painting.

Pieter Claesz -Banquet piece @ Getty Museum	@ the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto	My own improvised glass

Common glassware in Dutch Still Life painting during the Golden Age, the Pass Glass A.k.a Pala glass

Another very common object in the Dutch Still Life paintings. These were usually octagonal glasses that were used for beer in drinking games. The glass had a blue glass swirl going around that was used to measure the beer in it. The glass was passed on from player to player (hence their name). The player in turn had to drink from measure to measure in one gulp, if he missed (no women were allowed) then he had to do it again. Here are some examples of pass glasses in Dutch Paintings. The last “photo-painting”  shows my own in one of my still lifes.

Since I could not find a real pass glass I had to “make” mine. I found a tall glass and I devised the swirl around it. The swirls is transparent but I could easily turn it blue, which I did for another glass…stay tune, it will be  included in this winter’s Still life run.

Rembrandt Van Rijn (1637) @ Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister of Dresden, Germany	Pieter Claesz – Still Life with Drinking Vessels	My own….

Rembrandt is holding one of these in his well-known Rembrandt and Saskia in the Scene of “the Prodigal Son in the Tavern” (first picture from left to right). Experts believe that the glass was cheap in the XVII Century which explains why you can see it in a Tavern.

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Common glassware in Dutch Still Life painting during the Golden Age, the Berkemeyer.

Berkemeyer – This German/Dutch glass was definitely popular in Holland at the time and it was included very often in still life paintings of the time. It looks very similar to a roemer, both being hollow with a thick stem; however the Berkemeyer top is a conical bowl whether the Roemer is oval. Berkemeyers are the most commonly found glass from the Seventeenth century, at the time was customary to hold it by the foot as shown in these details from Vermeer’s “The Glass of Wine” (at left) or Frans Hals “The Merry Drinker” at right.

Some examples of Berkemeyers

@ Getty Museum, Los Angeles	@ Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto	My own …replica from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam	In a “Vermeer” theme photo painting. Tip over as a symbol of fleeting life.

Girl Reading a Letter at an open window

In his book Vermeer’s Hat Professor, Timothy Brooks takes us through the vibrant trade between the new Dutch Republic and the far east, specifically China. He goes through almost every painting identifying objects used by Vermeer and connecting them with the Dutch trade via the first publicly traded company in the world, the Dutch East India Company, Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC for short.
Reading the book gave me some ideas about what could possibly doing the “Girl Reading a Letter at an open Window” a.k.a. “The Letter Reader”. Here is my story which is split into two images. Fist the girl in Vermeer’s painting is gone, second a woman is there reading the letter.
First: A girl has read a letter from her lover; a merchant traveling to the Far East on a trading ship. The window is her favourite place to read his letters; the bright light allows her to see all the details of her lover's writings. By now, she carefully folded the letter and tucked in with the all others in a secure drawer in the dresser next room. The Picture in the background reflects the time when she was anxiously reading the letter. 
The self-repeating theme in the frame is an allegory to the many times this scene has occurred in the past but also, to the infinite nature of Vermeer's work.

Second (right): Catharine Bolnes, Vermeer wife has found a letter from an admirer addressed of one of her
older daughters. She must have forgotten to put it away. Catharina is now reading the letter in stupor realizing that her daughter hasn't told her about this pretender. Why hasn't she told her, Is she preparing to elope, like she and Johannes did?

Inspired by Johannes Vermeer -Girl reading a letter at an open window- c. oil on canvas 32 3/4 x 25 3/8 (84 x 65.5 cm) Staaliche Kunstammlungen, Dresden. 
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Modern photographic renditions of Johannes Vermeer paintings

Very recently I posted one of my “Vermeer” photographs in my Facebook page (Levin Rodriguez Photography). One of my friends searched the “original” and commented about the story behind my version or extension as I call them. I realized that my rendition meant much more to her once she compared it with the actual Vermeer painting. This was a kind of a revelation to me, because I assume that most people know Vermeer’s oeuvre and that they are familiar with his 35 paintings. They are not so many after all.
Therefore I have decided to compile both versions in this post. At left you will have Vermeer’s painting, at right my rendition, you would have to click on it to read the story behind it.  Alternatively, you can come to on June 11-15th to an Exhibition in the McKay Art Centre, Unionville Markham to see them printed on canvas, which in itself enhances the painting effect.  The Exhibition details are here
Did I mentioned, that you are kindly invited to connect with me via Levin Rodriguez Photography? Just ‘Like” it or ‘Share’ it.

Vanitas, Still Life or Genre?

A typical genre painting image of a scribe or calligrapher almost frozen while writing came to me a while ago after I bought calligraphy set. I thought about another “Vermeerish” image, with the light, window, etc. But then, he never gave men leading roles in his paintings, they were all women, even when a man or two were in the picture. Additionally, I had trouble with the monk-look of my protagonist, there were almost nonexistent in Calvinist Netherlands United Provinces. Finally, I decided to include some recognizable Dutch objects like the map in the background and Delft tiles as baseboard. The scribe looks like frozen which is a Vermeerish characteristics, all his models were like that, never moving….almost like still lifes. In a sense, he was a still life painter.

Anyway, I digress, I thought then about incorporating some Vanitas characteristics and that’s why there is a pear on the edge and a candle which symbolizes the transience of life and the temporary nature of our existence. The books are a symbol of education and a way to keep our thoughts for eternity, which is what the character is doing by writing. In this sense, this could be a Vanitas, I leave the judging to you. 

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Why Vermeer?

Whenever I exhibit or present my work, I get asked why I chose Vermeer’s oeuvre for my “photographic paintings”. Was is it just to replicate or copy what the Dutch master painted? 

Well, yes and no. Some of my “Vermeer“ photographs are very similar to the Vermeer painting, but others are completely different, while still being faithful to his lighting style. My intention was to create a composition and a story that could explain the context of a particular Vermeer painting. Sometimes my photograph would explore (fictionally, of course) what happened before, or after the moment represented in Vermeer’s painting. Some other times,, it would be a totally different image that would explore other fictional moments of Vermeer’s life. E.g. A Pronkstilleven from Vermeer to Kalf or Girl painting a dollhouse

In a sense I wanted to replicate his paintings but just as a starting point. In every case, I created my own story to explain what was happening or happened in the moment captured in the image. I profusely used known facts from Vermeer’s life and from Dutch life in XVII Century, including many hand-made artifacts and replicas.

The Story

As I stated in many of my previous posts, I have always been fascinated with classic paintings, not only the technical craftsmanship and skills required were simply exceptional; but they also required a lot of creativity. Just imagine how many different ways you can think of representing a conversation between a soldier and a woman, or how to represent Greek goddesses in the “Judgement of Paris”, or how to represent David before, during or after his battle with Goliath. So, the masters; Bernini, Vermeer, Reubens, Hooch, Michelangelo and others had to go through the same process, they had to think about it, imaging it and then paint it or sculpture it. 

In other, words just technical skill would not have made these pieces the masterpieces there are regarded as today. Their particular selection of a composition, colors and twist in the story made the difference. A good example would be to look at the representation of David by Michelangelo (in the Accademia, Florence), Donnatello in the Bargello, Florence as well and by Bernini (at the Gallery Borghese, Rome). Same character, but what a difference in message. My point is that the artist mind, his/her imagination and its interpretation is as important as the technical skill to paint it. Every piece of art out there looks easy or easier once is done. But coming up with it is what makes some people artists.

Vermeer’s paintings do not represent known stories, he chose to paint about simple moments in the life of middle class and wealthy Dutch people in XVII Century United Provinces. Therefore, for me they represent the starting point in a story, what were they doing? What happened before or after the moment represented in Vermeer’s painting?

The Camera Obscura and the Sketches or the lack of them and

Unlike most painters, Vermeer left no sketches or drawings. Apparently, he just went straight to painting whatever he imagined. One theory revealed by Philip Steadman in his book “Vermeer’s Camera: Uncovering the Truth behind the Masterpieces “is that he used a camera obscura to get the scene proportions, perspective and sizes. Professor Steadman goes into lots of detail about this in his book but also in an interview with “Essential Vermeer”. Click  here if you are interested in reading the interview.

If true, it would make Vermeer a painter who used an optical (the camera obscura was the pre-cursor of the photographic camera) device to capture the scene. Since there was no photographic paper at the time, Vermeer had to capture it “live” on paper, canvas or some sort of surface then, paint over to achieve his masterpieces. It would make him almost a “photographic painter”, I know I am stretching it, but I couldn’t resist.

Connecting the dots

Now you can see where everything starts connecting, I thought about exploring his works in terms of the story and techniques. That is, explore the story of what happened before, after, during or while Vermeer was producing his masterpieces, but also some other aspects of his life. A good example would be his relationship (or lack of it) with other successful painters of his time like Kalf and Rembrandt.

You can see how my photographs are almost like those sketches, which have never been found. In his time, painters would produce many sketches, then they would choose one and paint it. If Vermeer had a camera he would have taken many photos until happy with one (which is what Photographers and some painters do today). Using the camera obscura, would have allowed Vermeer to quickly explore and assess different compositions and discard whatever he did not like without having to draw a sketch. Smart! That would easily explain why he did not produce sketches or drawings (this is part of Professor Steadman’s theory)

I took on myself to create a possible story that explains the image, then create it using a more advanced device than Vermeer, but trying to maintain his style in terms of lighting… which is what photography is all about. (From the Greek photos that means “light” and, graphos that means “drawing”)

Have I succeed?  I leave that to your own judgment.

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Girl with a Pearl Earring

This painting is one, if not; the most widely known of Vermeer's  works. There is a lot of mystery about who this girl was and the fancy head scarf. Hollywood capitalized on the popularity of this painting and made a movie in 2003 with the name "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335119/). The movie uses many known facts from Vermeer's life, including the Master relationship with Pieter Claesz Van Ruijven, a wealthy Delft citizen who was also Vermeer's main patron. The movie weaves its story around a house maid that creates a strange and tense relationship with Vermeer and Pieter Van Ruijven. Van Ruijven and his wife Maria de Knuijt were his main patrons and owned most of Vermeer's works. Therefore the movie explores the tense relationship between the wealthy patron and Vermeer's family dependency of his will and whims. As a result, the maid ends up being the model for the now iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring.


In reality, nobody knows who the model was or why would Vemeer choose such a fancy headscarf. There are no other visual references to such a garment anywhere else. The headscarf is definitely an outlier,  it was a very unusual in those times  and probably today too. I think he just wanted to draw attention with a colorful prop.

Since I have been exploring Vermeer's work with my photographic tools, this is one painting that I had to address. Like all other previous paintings, I wanted to add a plausible story of my own. I ended up with three related photo paintings exploring the subject.

First, the actual Girl with a Pearl Earring (top right), here is my story. Vermeer asked one of his daughters to model for a new painting. Times are tough and he cannot afford a professional model. He finishes the painting of his daughter which he plans to modify later making her look older for the commissioned painting. Painting in layers is a common practice for oil painters and specially at the time. Xrays have revealed all sort of objects and subjects being modified and or completely erased by a new layer of paint.


Second , what happened before the model posed for Vermeer. Girl With A Pearl Earring Blowing Bubbles. The story goes as; Vermeer has started to work in a new painting that features one of his daughters wearing a fancy headscarf and pearl earrings borrowed from his wife Catharine Bolnes. His daughter got ready for the modeling session and she is in the room waiting for her father. He is out, he went to purchase some lapis lazuli to make the paint he needs for the blue portion of the headscarf. His daughter sat in the room for a while, but it didn't take long before she got bored. Then, she grabbed one of Vermeer's unused clay pipes and with some soap and water she started to blow bubbles, she is back at being a kid.


Third; Girl With A Pearl Earring At A Window. After the tense modelling session, the little girl is now calm and at the house window, where she was looking outside her constrained inside world. 

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Vermeer and the Virtuous Maid

One of Vermeer's most admired works is the Milkmaid or Kitchen Maid hang at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

It is a simple composition of a typical house maid in XVII Century Netherlands pouring milk into a bowl. Her face expression conveys absolute and complete absorption in a menial task. This was one of Vermeer earliest works and the only one in such modest room as the kitchen. He quickly moved into fancier, more affluent subjects.

Marjorie E. Wieseman in her book Vermeer's Women attribute the solemnity of the Milkmaid task as a way for Vermeer to attribute virtue to maids, who were generally viewed with suspicion at the time. Maids were normally pictured with her mistresses or sleeping on a table, or listening to a conversation in other words either as secondary subjects or suspicious main ones. In a stark contrast, Vermeer shows us a painting where the maid is the main subject AND she is putting all her attention into her job, no matter how menial it may seem. It is this, the fact that she takes so seriously such a simple job what makes the maid virtuous.

I loved the idea of conveying virtue by picturing solemnity in a menial task, but I chose a different subject, one that allows me to blend a Vermeer subject with a Bosschaert (Ambrosious Bosschaert the Elder) subject which is another favourite of mine; flower bouquet paintings. 

Here is my image and my story that goas as:
A girl is graciously arranging a flower bouquet to honour important evening visitors, Pieter Claesz Van Ruijn and his wife Maria de Knuijt. They are Jan Vermeer's most important patrons and are coming today to look at his newest painting of a girl wearing a pearl earring. Money is tight; hence, the Vermeers are hoping that Van Ruijn will like the new masterpiece and purchase it.

They are trying to embellish the house with their best pieces for the event. They wanted to impress Van Ruijn and his wife, therefore they invested a small fortune in a flower bouquet, that include the latest arrival of exotic flowers from Turkey; tulips and an Iris which symbolizes the trinity. They also hung a still life painting from Pieter Claesz, the famous Harleem painter. They thought that since he has the same name as Van Ruijn it would make for a good conversation.

The little girl is completely absorbed in her task, totally unaware of the tension around the patrons visit and the implications of the results. She innocently and happily arranges the flowers, completely unaware of what worries the adults. She is humming her favourite song while her innocent mind is solely occupied by her admiration of nature's power to produce these wonderful colourful creations called flowers.

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